If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

do i need a smoker?

Just starting this year and will be installing a package into a new warre hive? I have a veil, jacket, hive tool and brush. Do I really need a smoker, or can I get by with just a hand sprayer when working with my warre?

Re: do i need a smoker?

Originally Posted by bnm1000

Just starting this year and will be installing a package into a new warre hive? I have a veil, jacket, hive tool and brush. Do I really need a smoker, or can I get by with just a hand sprayer when working with my warre?

Re: do i need a smoker?

Invest in a decent smoker, or in an EXCELLENT veil+suit. I opted for the veil+suit myself, but I also threw together a "tin-can smoker" to use whenever my nerves start getting the better of me & it's time to calm down some bees during a cut-out

Re: do i need a smoker?

Originally Posted by SteveBee

You don't NEED a smoker. You WANT a smoker.

Couldn't have said it better. I have made the mistake...once, of not using my smoker. It's the only time I had to run away from the hive. They chased me all the way around to the front of my house, over 250 feet and AROUND it. IMHO, get a smoker.

Re: do i need a smoker?

As much as I like a smoker (and you should have one) I don't use them for package installs. The bees need to smell the pheromones to get organized and they are basically a swarm with nothing to defend.

Re: do i need a smoker?

I did a MASSIVE cut-out last night; forgot my smoker in the garage on my way out... Turned out to be a MEAN hive, AND the biggest feral hive I've ever seen! My wife and I are both VERY sore now; should've brought the dang smoker!

Re: do i need a smoker?

Don't get one. It's much better to let the bees get worked up angry and upset when you open the hive, boil up all over everything so you end up crushing lots of them to death, and get the crap stung out of you.

That's unless it's a good day, but not every day is a good day.

I have seen the "I never use a smoker it's so much better for the bees" type statements, although I've never had it explained why this is better for the bees. It's also noticeable that these statements usually come from someone with very little practicle experience, and for obvious reasons. Once they have experienced a smoker they discover how much better it is for the bees.

Just, as has been said, don't use a smoker when installing a package or a swarm. The rest of the time, use one.

Re: do i need a smoker?

Straight up, the "I don't use a smoker" thing started happening a few years ago after a film came out, it was a cartoon about a beehive, and the beekeeper was this big evil guy with a smoker, who took their honey. Can't remember what the film was called maybe someone can.

Anyway that's where this no smoker stuff came from, a cartoon. Combine that with little experience, and new age philosophies, and you get smoker = bad.

Re: do i need a smoker?

I started out back in 1981 with the advice that "smoke only made the bees madder." I had a heavy suit that was hotter than an oven. I had a pair of welding gloves and after opening a hive, the bees kept flying at me pinging my veil and swirling around my entire body. I had to walk around in that hot suit for about fifteen minutes until they finally left me alone.

Despite this advice coming from a respected mentor, I quietly purchased a smoker and have never regretted it. I've also not forgiven this mentor who has long since died.

Yes, get a smoker.

And as an aside, I had a call from someone who wanted to get a top bar hive. When I asked why they wanted a top bar hive, they responded, "Because I was told you don't have to use smoke."

I gently suggested they get a smoker. I didn't even want to know who filled their heads with such nonsense.